The lesson that this war has taught us is that Americans have a very short memory, are easily impressed by big explosions, and don't have a clue as to how the laws of cause and effect can come back to humble you.

We have taught the rest of the world a lesson, too, though. We have the tools and the will to use them. We don't take no sh*t. We are very good at fighting wars and we'll do it with you or without you. We are now the Only Kid on the Block that anyone else has to worry about. And we have our little buddy, Great Britain, to confirm that we are the greatest.

Too bad we still can't stop a single dude with a small device from blowing us up on a random basis. Too bad we have given a lot more reasons to people around the world why they should fear us and hate us. Because that is what the other kids will do when they see one kid who brags about how great he is, and shows off all of his great stuff, and makes fun of the other kids, and starts pushing them around, making them do what he wants to do. . .

More "mindless rhetoric" from the left, I guess. Here's a little more:

We have won a war against an enemy that was clearly outmatched from the beginning. We did it with great skill; there are far too many examples from history to show that it takes more than technological superiority to win any struggle. The magnitude of the victory, while impressive, tends to undercut the argument for going to war in the first place. How was Iraq an "imminent threat to America's security"?
That was the justification for waging war without the UN's sanction. And whether we like it or not, without that sanction or justification we are a "rogue state",in violation of international law (such as it is).

Where was the threat? Without the WMD's we have no legitimate case for this war as self-defense. According to my Political Science text, the only other legitimate justification for one nation violating another's sovereignty without itself being considered a "rogue state" is a long term and severe human rights violation or crisis and there is a case to be made for our incursion, based on what Saddam was doing to the people of Iraq. But the case for this must be made prior to the action and validated by the international community, which it clearly wasn't. It was only late in the game that the administration began to speak of "liberating the Iraqis", and this appeared to be no more than an attempt to justify our decision to fight after other arguments were not successful in swaying world opinion. Talk about your empty rhetoric. . .

Oh well. round and round it goes, and where it stops nobody know.
I love you kids.
Have a wonderful Holiday
Bart